Improvement in railroad-rail couplings



H. J. GILMAN. RAILROAD RAIL COUPLING.

Patented July 25, '1865.

UNITED STATES PATENT OFEIcE.

HENRY J. GILMAN, OF BUFFALO, NEW YORK.

IMPROVEMENT lN RAILROAD-RAIL COUPLINGS.

Specification forming part of Letters Patent No. 48,926, dated Jui 'es,1865 To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, HENRY J. GIL AN, of the city of Bufialo, county of"Erie, and State of NewYork, have invented a certain new and ImprovedRailroad-Rail Coupling; and I do hereby declare that the followin gis afull, clear, and exact description of the construction and operationthereof, reference being bad to the accompanying drawings, making a partof this specification, in which Figure I is a cross-section, and Fig. IIis a plan, of my improved rail-coupling.

The nature of this invention consists in the combination of a base-platewith a clampingbar and tightening-wedges, by which the contiguous endsof two rails may he coupled'together in a manner to give them both avertical and lateral suppcrt and prevent the possibility of the end ofone rail getting outofline with the other in any direction, so that ineffeet a continuous rail is formed.

Letters of like name and kind refer to like parts in each of thefigures.

A represents the base-plate, which, when in position, underlies andlapsequally onto each of the contiguous ends of the two rails to be coupledtogether. It has a hooked flange or lip, a, atone edge, taking hold ofone edge of the base flange of the rails, as shown at B, its

opposite edge projecting beyond the base of.

the rail and cut into tenons a This baseplate should be made ofwrought-iron to secure lightness with the required strength.

0 represents the clamping-bar, the contour of which, in itscross-section, is the reverse of one side of the web and base-flange ofthe rail, so that it may fit closely against the web and base flange. Italso has a flange, O, which 'laps under the base-plate and givesadditional stizpport thereto. It has mortises out through i throughwhich the tenons c of the baseplate pass, projecting through far enoughto receive the tightening-wed ges D, slots or holes 0 being made in thetenons for that purpose. This clamping-bar, from its peculiar form andthe duty it has to perform, may be made most economically of cast-iron,but may be made of wrought-iron,if preferred. The wedges D. being heldby the base-plate and bearing against the clamping bar, will, upon beingdriven through the base-plate, force the clam pin g-bar against the webof the rails,-and the base-plate being held by its flange a bearingagainst the opposite flange ot' the rails, the ends of the rails will befirmly clamped or coupled together.

The base-plate will prevent the end of one railsettling below thatof theother, and theclamping-bar, by itsinterlocking with the web of the.rail,its flange. O lapping under the base-plate, will prevent anylateralor rising movement of the rails, except as they may move together, thusmaking, in effect, a continuous rail. The wedges D are' split, as shownat 0, so that atter being driven they will expand and prevent the jar ofpassing trains from working them out of place.

To prevent the contraction of the rails by cold from drawing them outofthe coupling, (as sometimes happens in long incliues,) logs are cast-onthe clamping bar, as shown atf,

.which fit. into notches cut into the flange of the rails near theendsthereot. These notches are enough longer than the lugs to allow therails to expand and contract without straining the coupling, while atthe same time they cause the expansion and contraction of a long line ofrails to be taken up equally at each coupling, and not all at onecoupling, as might be the'casewhere the rails were laid 011 an inclinewere not some such provision made.

This coupling does not partake of the nature of a chair, being usedbetween the ties; but it firmly couples the rails together and acts as aprotector to the ends of the rails, preventing them from getting out ofline and springing up one above the other. By its use one of the largestitems of expense of keeping the permanent way of a railroad in order issaved, for it is well known that the ends of rails become battered andworn out long before the body of the rail is injured, and this batteringof the ends of the rails is occasioned by their springing up one abovethe other.

This coupling is cheap and durable and easily and quickly applied, andproduces the effect of a continuous rail in causing the cars to runsmoothly and quietly thereon without the jar and noise and damage to therails attending the use of the common chairs. It is a. suspended cou.iling,receiving no support from the ties or from a bridge-piecereachi'ngfrom tie to tie. It couples the rails between the ties withoutan under support. Itmay be also used for mending broken rails, and inreplacing them by new ones it will lie found particularly convenient.

Having thus described my invention, What I claim, and desire to secureby Letters Patent, is-

The combination of the base-plate A and clamping-bar G andtightening-wedges D, or equivalents'thercof, for the purposes andsubstantially as described.

HENRY J. GILMAN.

Witnesses:

GEO. W. WALLACE, W. H. FORBUSHK

